Goodluck sorry haven't a clue

 

i am hoping it will be a gearbox fault. it does still struggle shifting from 1st to 2nd despite new linkages,

maybe input shaft play?.


i have a spare F17 gearbox with a short final drive, so i could swap the box over. i have no idea if you can leave engine in for that though,


but it'd rather eliminate other sources first. sounds fun though....

 

@corsaz22se Do you happen to know what color the gearbox oil should look like for F17 boxes?

when i drained my old box out. i noticed the fluid was dark blood red. and i recall the original fluid having to be like yellow orange?

The new fluid i put in is yellow. it was Eurol MTF GL-4 75W, i have used that on my F17 1.6's astra box. and had no issues for 4k km atleast, but that's too short to tell **** with,

 

GM stuff was red from factory

 

What PenguinTurbo said, but the spec 75-85w gl4 is correct. My original Sri had a notchy 1st to 2nd shift from new, twenty years on its still notchy, no better or worse.

 

GM stuff was red from factory

would that be OEM 93165290 to be sure?

What PenguinTurbo said, but the spec 75-85w gl4 is correct. My original Sri had a notchy 1st to 2nd shift from new, twenty years on its still notchy, no better or worse.

yeah i have heard some other folks tell me that these f17 gearboxes have rough 1st to 2nd, but i really do not recall my F17 box on my Z16XE having any of such issues to the extend this box seems to have,

literary feels like the shifter hits a brick wall even if you try to mash it in, it just ends up grinding gears, i was hoping the old shifting linkage was to blame but nope,

I might end up swapping m Z16XE's gearbox in here if that ends up being the fault, i will have to swap the Final drive gear over to keep the 240km/h top speed of GSI box vs 200 for the 1.6 box,

 

Somebody told me, but I was never able to verify it, that the specification for the friction material changed for the z18xe engine and that caused the dragging on shifts. Rushing the change first to second just increases synchro wear and makes the problem worse.
Re your ticking, it may be worth warming the engine up then slackening the bolts that hold the timing belt back cover in place then nip them backup just incase it's flexing as everything expands, it's quite close the back of the exhaust side tensioner as it's designed. Can't explain why pushing the clutch would make the noise stop.

 

just got back from a 110km drive, the noise seems to have mostly gone at idle now. so we will see how that develops with some more driving,

i did some additional tests though, the ticking stops the instant you press the pedal down even a hair. so far far before clutch disengagement, so likely fault is non critical.

Interms of the clutch, i have used the flywheel and clutch fritcion plate that came with the 92.000km engine, so original factory parts, but i used a brand new valeo pressure plate and clutch slave/throw out bearing,


however i was mistaken. 1st to 2nd shift is fine.

2nd to 3rd is just impossible at high acceleration, and 3rd to 4th sometimes too,

but zero issues with downshifting from 5th to 3rd.


I will replace the latteral engine mounts just in case. they seem fine, but rather just swap them in advance anyhow,

If issues remains. i will opt to swap the transmission over and replace the clutch slave cylinder again just incase.

But poking around with my stethoscope. i cannot find where the ticking is coming from.

the ticking does not orginiate from engine or transmission side, you can just hear absolutely nothing. so maybe i am being trolled with a lose bracket or something, doesnt explain clutch situation though,


So until later, case on hold.

 

another 100k driving later, sound still gone. maybe the new slave clutch cylinder/throw out bearing needed some "wear in time" or something,

or the clutch pedal. car had sat still for 6 months after all,

 

What the others said regarding the oil, it should be red and quite thin almost like ATF oil rather than gear oil. Most Vauxhalls used this oil from the mid 80's until around 2010 when problems with the M20/M32 gearboxes started to appear and they switched to a better oil grade.

I had a ticking on idle on our Z14XE just before I came out here after fitting a new SKF timing belt and water pump kit. I didn't drive the car, just ran it up to temp a couple of times to bleed the air as I was waiting for other parts to arrive. Turned out the timing belt, rollers and water pump were all faulty parts from new. Fitting a genuine GM kit fixed the ticking noise.

 

Did your ticking noise go away when you pressed the clutch pedal down?

With my stethoscope oddly I couldn't find where it was coming from.

And now I've driven 200km total. Also quite rough and it's not shown up at all anymore oddly enough.

I'll go give the timing a check up soon again to just be sure.

I want to add cams later early 2026 so I'll replace timing again then anyway. Until then I'll keep eye out on tension.

 

Ours is an auto model so no clutch.

 

The plastic rollers had gone egg shaped in no more than an hour of running 😕

 

checked timing today and tbh the belt between the tops of the camshafts was tight and no other issues so far,

might've just been lucky LOL.

need to replace my alternator due to a failure. so i can just do a quick sanity check on the timing now that stuff is getting broken in.

 

Hope it all settles down and works. You've had enough issues for a few weeks!

 

No more noises. Maybe something just had to settle.

Besides that the thing feels amazing to drive. But definitely already wanting more power Smh.